Tsuji represented House District 2 including Keaukaha, parts of Hilo, Pana‘ewa and Waiākea.

The family has requested privacy at this time. Services are pending.

Tsuji was born on Jan. 20, 1941 and raised in the Big Island’s plantation town of Papaikou. He is a 1959 graduate of Hilo High School and completed his post-secondary degrees at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Washington, Pacific Coast Banking School.

Rep. Clift Tsuji was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2004 and was chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Among his many awards he was named the Hawaii Farm Bureau’s Legislator of the Year Award in 2015.

Tsuji served in the U.S. Army Reserve, 442nd Infantry, Company B, Hilo, from 1959-1965.

He was also active with the Hilo Medical Center Foundation, Hawaii Island Japanese Community Association, Pacific Tsunami Museum, Hiroshima Kenjin Kai, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, and the Kumamoto Kenjin Kai.